SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Knicks general manager Scott Perry, the former Kings executive, is attending the team’s four-game Western swing, though he took a detour Thursday to Tucson, Ariz., to catch Stanford at Arizona.

Perry and his flock of new personnel men are ready to dance as conference tournaments commence and the NCAA Tournament beckons. This will be the first Knicks draft run by Perry, who wasn’t hired by president Steve Mills until mid-July.

Arizona boasts the potential No. 1 pick in the draft in big man Deandre Ayton, but also features two potential second-round shooting guards, sophomore Rawle Alkins and junior Allonzo Trier. Trier was recently ruled ineligible after a failed drug test and then reinstated. The Knicks biggest need is a legitimate small forward but indications are they will add the best talent available, regardless of position.

Not on the trip is Mills, who stayed behind to take in the first Big Ten Tournament at the Garden, as well as the upcoming Big East extravaganza.

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The Knicks’ front office ultimately will see both Bridges — Miles of Michigan State and Mikal of Villanova — play in their home arena. Both are small forwards who are projected to fall potentially to where the Knicks will likely pick.

With 18 games to go after Sundays’s 102-99 loss to the Kings, the team (24-40) would be seeded ninth in the May 15 lottery that will move this season from New York to Chicago.

As the Knicks, who own the Bulls’ second-round pick, gear up for the draft, they will be without former top college scout Mark Hughes, who left to be a top executive with Atlanta, and longtime college scout Mark Warkentien, who has been de-emphasized and is listed officially as a consultant.

In addition, Clarence Gaines, who had more influence on the draft than anyone during the Phil Jackson era, is now just one of the college scouts.

Over the summer, Perry hired Gerald Madkins, the assistant GM in charge of coordinating their college scouting, and Fred Cofield, who dabbles in both college and pro scouting. Director of player personnel Harold Ellis, brought over from Orlando, is focused mostly on pro personnel, but will jump on board for March Madness.

On Sunday, Perry returned to the city where he spent just three months on the job as Sacramento’s assistant GM to Vlade Divac. Perry and Divac hugged before the game.

Scott PerryRobert Sabo

Perry was in Sacramento so briefly, he bought a house in the suburbs and never lived there for a day. The Knicks gave Sacramento cash and a 2019 second-rounder to break Perry’s contract with the Kings.
Though Perry worked for Orlando last season, he ran Sacramento’s 2017 draft. He was hired by Sacramento in late April after being bounced by the Magic.

Perry selected Kentucky point guard De’Aaron Fox with the fifth pick. Though Fox has had his ups and downs (averaging 11.6 points, 4.3 assists, shooting 41.4 percent), it’s too early to brand him a bad-value pick.

On Saturday, rookie-of-the-year favorite Donovan Mitchell came to Sacramento’s new downtown arena and torched the Kings for 27 points and five assists in a Jazz victory. Perry passed on the Westchester-bred combo guard, but so did 12 other teams, including Jackson’s Knicks.

In the second round, Perry added another point guard for the Kings in Frank Mason III, the Kansas senior who has shown some promise this season but missed six weeks with plantar fasciitis.

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Perry inked point guard George Hill to be Fox’s mentor, and Divac shipped him recently to Cleveland. Perry also added veterans Zach Randolph and Vince Carter, neither of whom is playing much as the Kings, like the Knicks, move into full-blown developmental mode.

Perry’s draft history in Orlando is mixed. His pick of Victor Oladipo in 2013 proved golden, but he traded him before the current Pacer blossomed into an All-Star.

In the Kristaps Porzingis draft of 2015, Orlando took swingman Mario Hezonja, who appeared headed toward bust status, with the fifth pick. But he’s risen this season and is an unrestricted free agent because Orlando didn’t pick up his fourth-year option.